Not long ago the notion of a tool that hides more of the system than it shows sounded crazy. To some it still does. But hundreds of thousands of Mylyn users have made next big evolution of the IDE clear. Stories and tasks are more central than source code, focus is more important than features, and integration with the agile workflow is the biggest productivity boost since code completion. This talk will demonstrate the concepts of the task-focused interface and look ahead at how we are redefining the “I” of the IDE by personalizing the user experience around the agile process.

When adjectives and adverbs appear in User Stories, they can be easily overlooked and seen as simple adornments to the story. There are a couple schools of thought on how to handle non-functional requirements on Agile projects. Mike Cohn recommends writing a User Story for each non-functional requirement, while others recommend creating task cards to drive out specification using Thomas Gilb’s approach. In this session, examples of various techniques for handling non-functional requirements will be demonstrated, with a discussion of pros and cons of each technique.